December 2012

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me with enteertaining family for Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas. My sister and I participated in the a craft show at the mall last weekend. We had a lot of fun meeting people and selling some jewelry. On Saturday we will be at Market Days Arts and Craft Show at Heritage Village in Crystal River with our jewelry. Hope some of you are able to come by and see us. I just made some really cute Christmas earrings.

Hematoxylin & Eosin Necklace

This necklace uses the colors that are demonstrated in the Hematoxylin & Eosin stain. The H&E is a routine stain used daily in the histology lab. It is used to stain the nucleus and cytoplasm of cells, and is the first stain done on any tissue removed from the body. As the starting point for all diagnosis it gives the pathologist a tremendous amount of information and helps to determine if further studies are needed. The 8mm round purple center bead depicts the nucleus and the three different shades of pink 4mm bicone crystals depict the various cellular components scattered throughout the cytoplasm.

It is a stunning necklace.

Close up view.

  My first sample was purchased my Rita Lovshe of Lab Storage Systems, Inc. to give away at her booth this year at the 2012 NSH in Vancouver, BC

Dec. 18, 2011

Here is my photostream of the Special Stain Collection. http://www.flickr.com/photos/63727748@N06/sets/72157627025296258/

It's not too late for Christmas shopping.

Dec. 12, 2011

I made this lovely 17inch spiral necklace using gold bulge beads, size 8 gold core beads and size 11 gold Delica as accents last night. I made a peytote toggle and four loops to give it extra length. I think it is going to look spectular with my red top tonight on the Christmas cruise down the intercoastal.

Dec. 09, 2011

This is so awesome. I made the tennis bracelet with two rows of bicones using right angle weave technique. I used copper Delicas putting a single row between the two bicones. It is a size 6 and 3/4 inch and used 37  4mm mocca bicones on each row. I also, made a loop of copper Delicas to put the copper lobster claw on and a loop on the other end to put the closed copper jump ring on. I estimate about 4 hours went into creating this heirloom quality bracelet. 

These are a few of my different bracelets. The turquoise and the purple one are made in a very popular style. I have made that one in many different colors and beads. The top bracelet is a herringbone pattern and can be made with a center stone. It is a great everyday bracelet.

Sudan Black B

This necklace depicts the Sudan Black B stain, a stain to demonstrate fat. Fat found in an abnormal place such as the kidneys or brain affect treatment and prognosis. Injuries causing fractures or crushing of tissues may cause fat to be released in the blood stream and cause a fat embolism. The Sudan Black B stain would verify a fat embolism as being the cause of loss of function. Fat Stains are also helpful in determining if a tumor is arising from fat cells or other types of cells. 

This necklace is a spiral made with size 8 iris beads as the core and size11 iris seed beads beside the accent of Iris 4 x 4 cube beads. It has a self made peyote toggle with 3 loop closure which enables it to be extended. This spiral necklace is so much fun to make.

This is a very happy customer displaying her Verhoeff's Elastic Necklace. Jan puchased this right after the House Of Delegates at the NSH Symposium/Convention.

I really enjoyed making this spiral. It is made with dark metallic iris 4 x 4 cubes and dark black iris metallic Seed beads. It has a self made toggle closure with three loops at the end for extending the length.

The Verhoeff's Elastic tissue stain is done to demonstrate atrophy of elastic tissue ( for example emphysema). It can also demonstrate thinning and loss due to arteriosclerosis. Also, of value is the ability to show if cancer has invaded blood vessels, which may change treatment plans.

T'was the night before NSH S/C 2011

Well, I am off to the convention tomorrow. I have just about made myself crazy trying to get lots of new pieces of jewelry made to add to my Special Stain Collection. So, it is time to stop the craziness and finish packing. I will add all of the pictures and discriptions of the new pieces when I get home after next Thursday. I did however want to give you a sneak preview. This is one of my new pieces.

I hope to generate a lot of buzz about my jewelry. I am donating a piece for the Public Relations Committee to give away. So, they are letting me put a small sign and and album of pictures on display at their table. Wish me luck. I will post again as soon as I can. That might be after I get home as I will be extremely busy the whole week.

Trichrome

I did a Trichrome Stain today and I have to agree with my friend Janet from Vancouver, it is one of the most beautiful stains that we do. Janet has been a Histotechnologist almost as long as I have. She is also a crafter, doing cross stitch, sewing, and cooking. I haven't inspired her to start making jewelry, yet. However, she does like my jewelry. So, this Trichrome Necklace is dedicated to her in honor of our many years of friendship and her years of dedicated service to the National Society of Histotechnology. Janet has served on the NSH Board of Directors as a Region Director, Vice President, and Speaker of the House as well as serving on many committees.

Above are some of my histology friends, Dot, Janet and Shirley.  They have all served NSH well through the years.

The Trichrome Stain combines a plasm stain and a connective tissue stain. The muscle fibers are stain red, collagen, reticulum, mucin are stain blue. Trichrome stains show changes that occur in neuromuscular diseases and are helpful in demonstrating tumors that have arisen from muscle cells. So, looking at the Trichrome necklace notice how I have used red twisted bugle beads to depict muscle fibers and royal blue core seed beads to depict mucin and collagen in a spiral pattern.

Miss Chloe Necklace

Here is the necklace I just finished for Chloe.

Mucicarmine Stain bracelet

Epithelial and connective tissue produce the secretion "mucin". Increased amounts of mucin indicate certain inflammations or certain carcinoma. Finding the primary tumor site helps in the treatment of cancer. Mucicarmine stain aids in this investigation by demonstrating the presence of mucin-positive tumor cells in an area that normally lacks them. Their presence in would then indicate the tumor did not arise from that area. In a  Mucicarmine Stain, mucin is fuchsia, nuclei is black, capsule of crypotococus is stained deep rose and the cytoplasic stain is yellow.

This bracelet design came together for me by studying the combination of these colors. They are amazing together and the cuff design makes it so special.

AFB Necklace

The AFB necklace is my interpretation of the Ziehl-Neelsen acid fast stain for bacteria. In this special stain the presence of acid-fast bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae (leprosy) which are pathogenic for man are demonstrated.

The tissue is stained with a fuchsin dye, the normally hard to stain acid-fast bacteria are colored bright fuchsia to red. Acid alcohol is applied and all tissue elements except the acid-fast ones are rendered colorless. The other tissue elements and other bacteria are stained light blue. So, you can see I chose fuchsia crystals to depict the Acid-Fast bacteria, light blue core beads as the background and a spiral pattern to demonstrate the corkscrew shape of T.B.

Designing Jewelry

My ability to design jewelry has grown through the years. I started out learning a stitch and then a pattern (frequently from a beading magazine).  I always tried to make it my own. I never want to copy it. The choice of beads, colors and components available make it easy to change the pattern a good deal. In the picture below, I made the brooch in the center similar to the one published in Beadwork Aug/Sept 2006, Crystal Radiance Brooch by Tina Koyama. The ones beside it are my variations.

Now, I try to push myself to find the right technique and materials to express life at the microscopic level.  By thinking about the stains we use in the lab to depict various tissue structures and disease processes, I have begun to step outside my box when choosing color combinations and components in my designing and making jewelry.  I realized recently, we all get too comfortable in our choices staying with the same colors and styles, in jewelry as with many aspects of our life.

Perphaps, it is time to step outside the box, mix it up a bit and try something different. If you usually wear small and dainty - try something big and bold!  If you usually wear studs - try some long dangle earrings.  If you have to wear them around the house for several days before you get up the nerve to wear them out, that's okay! Try a different color. You might be surprised at the response you get. 

I truly love watching someone try on my jewelry and seeing them fall in love with it.